Letting Go: Games We've Parted Ways With

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Permalink Reply by Eric Walters on March 2, 2008 at 2:40pm

The venerable PANZERBLITZ and PANZER LEADER games. Oh, I still take them out from time to time, unfold those maps, fondle the counters, maybe even set up a scenario for old times' sake. But play them? Not on your life. It's an exercise is lost romance--such disappointment sets in. I suddenly realize why I stopped playing them, what games captured my fancy. For me, it was Avalon Hill's TOBRUK that took me away...and shortly thereafter, the appearance of John Hill's SQUAD LEADER. For platoon level armor games, I fiddled with West End's TANK LEADER series but it was GDW's ASSAULT contemporary hypothetical warfare series that was the end-all/be-all system for me...at least until the Berlin Wall fell.

PANZER COMMAND was perhaps my favorite for that kind of scale, even though pieces were company-sized. So I have high hopes when DEVIL'S CAULDRON hits my doorstep since it uses basically the same system. These days it's PANZERGRENADIER that dominates the platoon tactical system genre. I do enjoy that game because it's relatively easy to learn and plays relatively quickly for the moderately sized scenarios. My ultimate favorite platoon game is The Gamers'/MMP's Tactical Combat Series (TCS), but it takes a long time to get through most of the games.

What do these games offer the older ones don't? For the geomorphic board crowd, the PANZERGRENADIER boards are much more representative of the typical terrain you'd find. Which means bland if you are in Africa or Russia. I'm not a fan of the art work on the newer boards (those old PANZERBLITZ and PANZERLEADER boards were so functional), but I can live with them. PANZER COMMAND/DEVIL'S CAULDRON are so much better, but they're based on real terrain. So are the TCS games. And I guess that makes a big difference to me, knowing I'm fighting over a representation of the actual ground in the battle.

Sequence of play is just so much more dynamic now. No more sitting around waiting for your opponent to get done with all his shooting and/or moving (even if you are busy flipping /removing counters or checking for opportunity fire). There's leadership and morale effects. And in the TCS and PANZER COMMAND systems, the command and control competition is given proper place (same goes for the old TANK LEADER series, although it used cards to do this).

Still, I get misty about the GRANCELLES bridges, that wonderful beach board in PANZER LEADER we'd assault and defend over, the sleepy village of Bednost in PANZER BLITZ...sigh.

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Permalink Reply by Steve Dixon on March 13, 2008 at 6:48am

For me it's Richthofen's War - it's pretty dated now but do occasionaly pull it off the shelf to play a quick scenario. But not as often as I would like.

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Permalink Reply by Jem Langworthy on March 13, 2008 at 4:24pm

Only yesterday I pulled Richtofen's War out of the garage. Why was it put there in the first place? I love that game especially with the manouvre cards I was given a few years ago by a very sensible friend.

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Permalink Reply by Denny Koch on March 3, 2008 at 2:09pm

To me, it's "Lock'n Load" by Mark H. Walker. I really like tactical games (being an ASL player with a SL history), and I like games about the Vietnam War (for example Vietnam 1965-1975). Lock'n Load seemed to be a nice novelty first, offering modern graphics and design and a nice impulse system. Unfortunately, the longer we played, the more balancing issues appeared. Besides these, the rules were written in a quite sloppy fashion (for example indicating a "clear LOS", unopposed to any "unclear" or hindered LOS - which is very confusing for an ASL player accustomed to precise language). I really wanted to like the game and played it for some time, we even designed our own player aid sheets and laminated the charts, but I slowly began to loose interest due to the many rules and balancing issues. Eventually, the game endet up in the closet, never to be touched again because time was much too valuable and there were far too many good games out there. Then we even sold the game and invested the money in other games.

Another game I suspended was Axis & Allies (and all its expansions). It was my first step into the vast wargaming universe and I played A&A and all its expansions quite fanatically for some time, but when I discovered the consim world, A&A seemed more and more limited. It's not a general dislike for simple games (I like Memoir'44 for example), but A&A was much too repetitive and there were only a handful of strategic options (i.e. the infamous stack in Karelia). Eventually, we sold A&A and the expansions and traded them for Totaler Krieg - a decision I never regretted :)

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Permalink Reply by Brant Guillory on March 3, 2008 at 2:28pm

For several years, it was my beloved ModQuads. Now I never did get rid of them, but I had a hard time finding new copies I could use, since the ones I grew up with were still at my dad's. I've started collecting them up again, but I have a hard time finding opponents down in here in Raleigh (there's no good equivalent to CABS down here).

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Permalink Reply by Kim Meints on March 3, 2008 at 11:16pm

I kick myself for giving away(yes gave away!) my copy of Excalibre's Ancient Conquest which I would love to have a copy back again but have yet to find one;(

while not a wargame per say I haven't played a System7 battle in at least 17 years .I.used to play all the time with a couple of guys( and would even play it solo) from the old gaming club. but alas one had passed away around that time of stopped playing.maybe someday.
Another unplayed in ages is TSS 1st edtion. I get it set-up but something comes up that I pack it back up again.I would play that little bugger solo so many times.

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Permalink Reply by Chris Fawcett on March 4, 2008 at 7:17am

I'm happy to have held onto my copies of ACI and ACII over the years. They have both lost their shine as good multiplayer games, but they are both great situations that can be spruced up a bit. I have been working on a faster playing version of these two to entice the current crowd of crossover gamers, and I think I might be onto something.

And I have obtained the licenses to reproduce both the System 7 rules (from Greg Novak) and the counters (from Rich Banner). My initial work is titled System 2007, includes a cleaned up set of rules that introduces orders chits and a streamlined combat resolution method, and a full battle module for the Battle of Quatre Bras, including all counters (for the French I Corps, as well) and a 4'x8' map. It is available for free download.

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Permalink Reply by Don Eddins on May 27, 2009 at 4:46pm

Chris ... I am unable to find the link to download your System 2007/Quatre Bras. Could you please post it here?

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Permalink Reply by Ben Mangus on March 6, 2008 at 12:26pm

I first started to buy(now collect) war games in 1972. My first purchase was USN by SPI. I still have it in mint condition and many other purchases over the years have accumalated. Most are in mint condition such as SPI's War in the East, Avalon Hill's The Longest Day and others that I just can't seem to part with. I have a weakness towards East Front games and still have not found the "perfect" one but I still enjoy The Russian Campaign and PanzerBlitz. I now am approaching 59 and soon the day will come that I will have to sell my collection so guys start saving your money over the next couple years as there will be some Really Good Games to be offered(sigh) as I know my sons would probably trash them as they never got into war-gaming. I am now considering buying Russia Beseiged, when will the madness stop? I guess never as long as there are wargames, I will still buy.

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Permalink Reply by Jeff Sandelin on March 8, 2008 at 4:54pm

For me it's The Gamer's TCS series. I've kept a few, like Screaming Eagles which had the most playing time, but sold Omaha and Bloody 110 when I finally decided I would never play them. Now, what does the list look like when we talk about games we sold when the kids were young and gaming time was at a premium, only to by them back at some outrageous price later in life. I always liked a lot of the older GDW games (Citadel, Road to the Rhine), but sold (more like gave them away when there was no eBay) back in the early 80's and have since bought them again. Oh, for unlimited storage space.

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Permalink Reply by Matt Severns on March 11, 2008 at 6:32pm

Sigh......the shelf warmers......for me it's the TCS games (too long to play/nobody to play with)

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Permalink Reply by Clint Pewtress on March 14, 2008 at 11:31pm

Twilight Struggle has moved to the back of my game shelf... played too much of it I think, the shine just wore off the apple. I still get dragged into it periodically (due to its popularity), but I really don't enjoy playing it anymore...

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